He wrote on his blog: "The first day I colored my full beard and my hair light grey - almost white. I darkened the skin of my face, neck and hands carefully with shoe polish and put on an LA Saints baseball cap with the brim facing backwards and tufts of the front of my hair sticking out unkempt through the band.

"I stuffed a shaved down tampon deep into my right nostril and died the tip dark brown – giving my nose an awkward, lopsided, disgusting appearance."

He added: "I put on a pair of ragged brown pants with holes patched and darned. I wore an old, ragged long sleeve shirt. I donned an old Guatemalan-style sarape and toted a bag containing a variety of Guatemalan woven goods."

McAfee, who also described disguising himself as a drunk German tourist, went on to detail how he attempted to sell dolphin carvings to tourists and reporters, speaking in broken English with a Spanish accent.